I am always so glad to see you posting. (I am a rock and roll fan, so even
before a.r.s. I learned not to take farewell announcements as irrevocable.
<grin>)

I appreciate your efforts to set the record straight, although I kind of
wish that, were something to prompt you to post, it would be anything
other than feeling a need to respond to distortions. That is - I don't
mean I wish you didn't feel compelled to respond, but rather I wish there
were nothing for you to respond to.

One of the difficult things to deal with about the online medium is the
ghost of the silent majority. I don't post about all that many things -
there are massive chunks of ars swirl about which I've said nothing - and
there are many, many people who never post at all, feeling safer as
lurkers.

I believe that many of those people feel as I do (because, of course, the
rest of the world is just like me <grin>). I learned to ignore certain
posters (even some who have not ended up in my killfile), and I learned to
ignore certain comments from people I do often read.

You have nothing to prove to me, Paulette, and I think there are a lot of
people who share that feeling. I am happy to read your posts whenever you
do feel a need to respond to something on a.r.s., whether it's about your
own history or about Mike Flynn or about cats or the weather or anything
else that moves you to write.

You have friends here, including friends who have never met you, who
understand that you are human and imperfect and who admire your remarkable
strength and resilience - and clarity and eloquence and humanity.

A large part of my continuing interest in Scientology is an interest in
learning the truth. That means sometimes learning that people I admire and
like have done things that disturb me - like Stacy and Bob; it also means
learning, again and again, how a ruthless organization watches
unblinkingly for any weakness or mistake that it can exploit. It means
watching what happens to critics when Scientology manages to find a
weakness or a mistake - or manages to create one by tricking or attacking
its perceived enemies.

Knowing what you experienced, to the extent that you can talk about it
without getting into legal trouble, is tremendously helpful in learning
more about the truth.

<sigh> I'm rambling now, when all I really meant to say is this:

You have friends here. Your friends are not deceived by attempts to smear
you.

Even if you never speak another word about Scientology, your past work
remains an inspiration ... and all your future words are welcome here, at
least to me, even if they're off-topic - I'm always happy to hear from
you, and I wish you, always, well.